It'll be damn hard for anything to beat the opening entry here, How Does It Feel To Feel, not only my favourite Freakbeat track of the year but my favourite track in the entire genre. This is the definitive US sngle mono mix of this gut-churning classic, which is pure hateful acid damage pressed onto molten hot wax. This version has the intense leaking-dread feedback missing from the UK version. The creepy stop sections put me in mind of a broken body limb hanging off the side of a skyscraper. Still devastating. Check out their other single of the year, the excellent blue-eyed mod-soul tune For All That I Am, which didn't make it onto the polls.
Home Cookin' is my favourite Jr. Walker single of the year, with some seriously movin and groovin' bass and skittery, hip-breaking bass. Love the double-tracked Walker harmony on the chorus, a trademark of the saxman's records.
Some of those here know The Rockets as the early version of Crazy Horse, featuring another guitar player and a violinist. The band released a couple records on the White Whale label, one of which was this 45, which if I recall correctly was a Barry Goldberg production. Delightfully primitive and good-natured, the violin here is John Cale if he was a hayseed.
The previous Porter/Dolly entry on these polls was their lighter side, here we have them as their usual miserable selves, the exemplar of masochistic country couplings. Straightforward, cash on the barrelhead music, they meant it, man.
I know I have heard this Sharon Tandy record before, but I had forgotten how utterly brutal it is. Wow. Amazing request, Joe, one of the best of the polls. This one just has to be heard to be believed. It sounds like Sandie Shaw backed by Blue Cheer. A solid second place standing.
I initially intended to only place Home Cookin' from Jr. Walker on these polls, but a last-minute confusion over the release date of The Buckinghams' Hey Baby (hey're Playing Our Song) got Hip City (Part 2) on as well. And that is no bad thing, as it is a storming party record and deserves to be heard. When people think of Motown in blanket terms, they conveniently forget monster recods like this. "DON'T PUT DEE-TROIT DOWN...YOU GOOTA FEEL IT! YOU GOTTA MOVE!"
The other Top 3 record here is yet another all-time classic from the Iceman himself, Hey Western Union Man. Like Never Give You Up, there is a distinct, deeply lonely sadness coursing through this record, though it is uptempo, and as groovin' in its own way as the Walker records. Listen to how Jerry manages to be both soaring and gutter-church gravelly in his vocal performance. Very memorable, very catchy, a perfect record, another quintessential example of one of the most underrated discographies in soul music.
Yeah, then there's Hey Jude. It is fine and all. This era of McCartney/Beatles music just bothers me, though. Too serious and portentous, too self-consciously anthemic for that particular band in my opinion. But as always in Beatles cuts that I don't like overall, there are moments I love: the ability of Paul to scream an actual musical note, as he does at the entry to the second part of the song, and the amusing "fuckin' 'ell!" exclamation they didn't bother to delete at three minutes in. This'll win this set, and probably the whole year. Because it is Hey Jude.
Before the year was out, Wilson Pickett had weighed in with his soul take on the tune. And with the Wicked himself at the mic, backed by the mighty Dixie Flyers featuring Duane Allman on guitar, the material doesn't matter. Pickett shows the Fabs how a soulful ballad is done here, and to their credit, they loved his version.
Had to include the always-underrated Marvelettes' Here I Am Baby, as it is one of the sexiest records Motown ever put out. A big personal favourite. You are guaranteed to feel cool when you are listening to this one.
The very next single in the Motown discography was from another of the corporation's great underrateds, Shorty Long (in Marvin Gaye's estimation, the most talented artist at the company). This was the most successful of many records from this year that traded upon the popular Laugh-In catchphrase. This record cracked me up as a kid, and still does, but the novelty nature of the record doesn't manage to hide ultra-funkiness. Corrosive rhythms, like the JBs and Meters hitting it on the 2 and 4.
Beaming in from another universe and concept of soul, there is one of Tom Jones' most quintessential sex-with-a-smile hits, Help Yourself. And it is great, like a shaken-up bottle of bubbly downed in one mighty gulp. Or a lace nightie strap slipping off a shoulder, somewhere in the cabin of a yacht on the South Seas.
Had to put Hello It's Me on here, as it was actually the A-side of the Nazz single that featured the more popular Open My Eyes, and it was their one Hot 100 chart placing. Of course Todd's later solo chart-topping version is the definitive one, but the Nazz take is also beautiful, having some sonic conincidence with the work of both Curt Boettcher and Laura Nyro. And, Stewkey is a better singer than Todd. The unique closing section is great too.
Hello I Love You is the second most popular track here after Hey Jude, and I'm not such a big fan of it either. Smacks too much of mercenary commercial impulse (in a bad way), and sounds too much like All Day And All Of The Night with a Sunshine Of Your Love backbeat. It is bubblegum that is nowhere near as good as the Ohio Express or Fruitgum Company. I prefer it in its 1965 demo form, retardo piano-garage that sounds like Napoleon XIV trying out for a Vegas lounge gig.
Second of three Easybeats entries this year is Hello How Are You, a really nice change-of-pace piano ballad that has a nice coincidence with Hello It's Me here. This was the record ELO ripped off wholesale for Telephone Line. I like this about a millon times more than Hey Jude. Really fine finale to this set, too.

So, How Does It Feel To Feel stands for me, with Sharon Tandy and Jerry Butler close behind.

Posted July 11th, 2011 04:26 PM IPI will join you in voting for How Does It Feel To MOTHERFUCKING Feel. One of the most brutal, awesome cuts of all time. I, of course, being a product of my era, came around to the original via the Ride cover of same -- which is SMOKED and STUBBED OUT by the original, thankyouveryfuckingmuch.

It was close, though, I almost voted for Jr. Walker -- "Home Cookin'" is fucking great. It was close.

Hey Jude was never even a contender IMO. I always preferred the flipside anyway. By a long shot.I don't know why I ever believed the Chipmunks had the lowdown on punk.

Posted July 11th, 2011 04:40 PM IPI prefer the UK version of How Does It Feel to Feel :(
The snare sound of Hey Jude is one of the foulest sounding things i've ever heard so there's no way it's getting my vote.

Quote:The Venerable Gould wrote:
I prefer the UK version of How Does It Feel to Feel :(
The snare sound of Hey Jude is one of the foulest sounding things i've ever heard so there's no way it's getting my vote.

The snare sound is one thing about it I can definitely say RULES. You are insane, good sir.I don't know why I ever believed the Chipmunks had the lowdown on punk.

The snare sound is one thing about it I can definitely say RULES. You are insane, good sir.

Yeah, I've got to say, these days when I hear "Hey Jude," I listen for Ringo, because I really love the way his drums sound on it. The whole kit is great: the snare is punchy, the toms are big and deep, and that ride cymbal sound has this really unique definition to the attack that is the first thing that ever comes to mind when thinking about the overall sound of that song. No joke. That's a great Ringo song for me.

Christ, that sounds like a midget farting into a balloon in the next room."The other thing is that the quality of the mp3's I listen to varies especially as some of the music from the likes of Led Zeppelin is old, even with re-mastering still isnt up to the quality of the likes of Def Leppard."

Posted July 11th, 2011 05:23 PM IPThe greatest snare sound is the one that sounds like a whip snapping your skull in two. An example is the version of My Generation that goes into Land Of Hope And Glory, bonus track on the A Quick One CD.

Posted July 12th, 2011 01:25 AM IPOne could say of 'Hello, How Are You' what you did of Scott Walker a few polls ago Ian - it's very close to saccharine and Humperdinky (Harry has dismissed it as such since), but saved by the ACHING SOUL in Stevies vocal and the general brilliance of the songwriting. They were at their peak, and could handle most styles with aplomb. The three singles this year are testament to that.

Posted July 12th, 2011 01:48 AM IPMan, I love that Rockets album. Every song on it. Even "It's a Mistake" -- Edison Lighthouse or somebody should've done that one. It was a huge bubblegum hit waiting to happen. "Pills Blues" is the best, though: "Talk about my pills/ as if they were my women/ one little phone call, baby/ you know I'll come and get 'em / TALKIN' 'BOUT PILLS, that is". That cracks me up every time.

Posted July 12th, 2011 05:22 AM IPOh man, Mr. Pickett fucking KILLED The Fabs. KILLED. Quite amusing, really. It's curious that the tune, particularly the "So let it out and let it in, Hey Jude..." section and the killer horn outro actually does sould like something that could be written in Muscle Shoals. Maybe it's just Wilson and the band though, they could make ANYTHING sound their own."Nick is the Mode guy. Jon is the Duran guy."

Posted July 12th, 2011 05:34 AM IPHold On... Oh Sharon! What a stunning, freaked out, insanely cool and sexy burst of psychedelic energy. Her vocal is part Dusty, part Sandie Shaw and all perfect - how could you resist holding on!?! Les Fleur De Lys were the backing band, who released a cover of The Who's 'Circles' and some other fine singles. Nothing else they, or indeed Sharon did stacks up against this titan of titillation. Perhaps even including Hendrix (don't quote me on that though) this track may have my favourite guitar-strangling of the year. Unbelievable.

It started life as a B-side, but was re-released as the A because it's so damn undeniably awesome.

Not sure what I'll vote for yet (I'll sleep on it), but not sure you can top this.
(Edited by Matinee Idyll (129))"Nick is the Mode guy. Jon is the Duran guy."

Posted July 12th, 2011 06:20 AM IPah goddamnit, for literally the last decade or so I thought it was the UK version of How Does It Feel to Feel to Feel that was the good version. I had my versions mixed up! I can't feel smug about us Brits getting the good version now :(
Oh well, that'll be getting my vote then I suppose!

I was very let down by the UK version when I youtubed it... really thought you were up the wrong tree on that one. Glad to hear you were thinking of the great one anyway! WHAT A CRUSHING TRACK!"Nick is the Mode guy. Jon is the Duran guy."